Air China Airbus A330-300s to Delhi and more…….

Neelam Mathews
Sept 16, 2011

Air China will start Airbus A330-300s on its flights between Beijing and Delhi from the Winter schedule.  

The A330-300 will replace a Boeing 767-300ER on Air China’s four times weekly route between Beijing and Delhi, one of only two destinations it serves in India – it also offers a three times weekly link to Bangalore from Chengdu.  The airline is the sole operator on this route although both China Eastern Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines have flown between the two cities until recently.  

An estimated 57,000 - onward and direct- passengers flew on the route in the past year with Air China holding a 34 percent share of this traffic, down from 37 percent in the previous 12 month period.
The airline that added the A330 to its fleet  in 2010, now has six of the type in service. It will get two additional aircraft soon. 

The A-330-300s currently to fly from Beijing to Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Taipei and Dusseldorf.

MORE-
Kingfisher Airlines is to launch three additional flights to Sri Lanka from October 1, supplementing its existing daily link to Colombo from Chennai.  The carrier will introduce daily flights to the Sri Lankan capital from Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Tiruchirapally; using ATR 72 turboprops. 

All the three new routes are served by SriLankan Airlines with the national carrier’s flights to Tiruchirapally supplemented by sister carrier Mihin Lanka.  An estimated 13,000 O&D passengers flew between Colombo and Kochi in the past year, 28,000 between Colombo and Thiruvananthapuram and 79,000 between Colombo and Tiruchirapally.

There are currently more than 120 weekly return flights between the two countries offering more than 20,000 seats in each direction.  An estimated 1 million O&D passengers travelled between the two countries in the past year with the largest traffic flows between Colombo and Chennai, a route flown by Air India Express, Jet Airways, SpiceJet, SriLankan Airlines, as well as Kingfisher Airlines.

Emirates Airline will operate a one-off Airbus A380 commercial flight to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia on September 23, to celebrate the country’s 81st National Day.  “The A380 is our flagship aircraft and it is fitting that we mark the occasion of the country’s National Day by operating this one-of-a-kind aircraft into Riyadh,” said Ahmed Khoory, Senior Vice President, Gulf, Middle East and Iran, Emirates Airline. 

Emirates has used the A380 on its route between Dubai and Jeddah since February 2010.

The airline is the largest customer for the A380 and now operates 15 services from Dubai to London Heathrow (double-daily), Manchester, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Toronto, Seoul, Bangkok, Beijing, Shanghai, Jeddah, New York, Hong Kong, Sydney and Auckland. Additional A380 destinations that have been announced include; Rome, Kuala Lumpur, Johannesburg and Munich.

Air Nigeria has confirmed it will strengthen its position in the local African market with the extension of its international route network to also cover Freetown in Sierra Leone and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  It will also improve connectivity between its existing ten regional destinations by introducing new sectors and increasing frequencies on current routes.

Bahrain Air will resume (daily) flights between Bahrain and from September 21 operated by an Airbus A320.  The flight will depart Bahrain in the early hours of the morning, returning later the same morning and providing incoming passengers with potential connections to other destinations, including Doha, Jeddah and Riyadh.

"Kathmandu is and will remain a core part of Bahrain Air's network, and we look forward to boosting direct connections between Nepal and Bahrain,” said Richard Nuttall - Director Commercial Operations, Bahrain Air.  “It is the start of a new period of growth for Bahrain Air that will include resumption of old routes, some new destinations and agreements with other carriers to boost our network further.”

Bahrain Air first launched flights to Kathmandu in March 2009 on a three times weekly, but suspended the route earlier this year.  An estimated 66,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two destinations in the past year with Bahrain Air holding a 51 percent share of the traffic.  Gulf Air also offers service on the route with up to 12 weeklies.

Turkish Airlines (THY) is to increase capacity on its flight from Istanbul to Singapore and Jakarta during the Northern Winter schedule by introducing an Airbus A340-300 on four of its seven weekly services.  The route was previously due to be served by an A330-200 on a daily basis.